Waiting for the penguins

Hey there everyone!
Sorry we haven't updated in a while, it's pretty hard finding some time to post here between two drinks (lemon vodka, anyone?), two parties and errr, classes (yeah, riiiight).
Hope Fish won't mind me posting without her, but I had to tell of our little tale yesterday (see what I did there?). Most of our friends from the international students' group went up to Christchurch to see the All Blacks playing against South Africa this weekend --we watched in a bar 'cause we couldn't make it there... We were kind of depressed that we weren't part of the trip but we had an awesome day in the end because we went to visit the Otago peninsula. We went there with about fifteen people --loads of German, people from France (obviously!), Denmark, Norway, Slovakia (actually one person from there but she's very nice). We started at 10am in the morning (oh alright, 11), went to see the albatrosses but didn't actually get to see any of them. We then went for a walk to a bay but I can't remember the name... It was actually really nice to walk on the beach, and breathe the fresh air, and it all sounds cliché but I loved it. It felt like New Zealand, exactly as I pictured it in my mind. We kind of got chased by a seal of some sort, too --more on that with the pics! On our way back, we climbed up a bit to get a view, and it was even more beautiful. Now comes the biggest part of our little adventure. Some of us wanted to go see the penguins because the peninsula is quite famous for it --it has the rarest penguins in the entire world. So the group split up and eventually, there were only eight of us left... To get to the hiding place (because penguins are easily scared so there's a precise place you have to get to in order to see them), we had to go down a very steep dune and then walk for a while. We actually had to get past a sea lion once we were on the sandshore, and we were all pretty scared to walk past the animal because they're easily bothered, too... We waited for the penguins to show up but they never did! And here was the hardest past: the return journey. And it was raining, freezing cold out there... It was soooo hard climbing all the way back. But we managed to, so all ended well!

Afterwards we went to see the rugby game at a bar called the Arts and Crafts right on the Octagon (kind of the centre of the city centre, where all the good bars are) and it was wicked, too. They won 31 to 6, so everyone was pretty happy about that.

Anyways, the pics! I'm not too fond of having actual people on my pics (yeah weird), so it's all landscapes. Hope you'll enjoy despite the fact that I'm a crappy photographer!

This is where we were supposed to see the albatrosses, 'supposed to' being te keyword here. Still a gorgeous view, I can tell you that...


A somewhat blurred view of Dunedin from the peninsula...


On our way to the bay, some pretty amazing landscapes out there...


The view when we arrived, and it spread on miles and miles... You can't see the sandshore here, but it was incredible.


That's the seal that totally chased us when we were there! Heh. He really enjoyed the human attention, to the point where we actually got scared and walked away as quickly as possible. He still put on quite a show for us, it was lovely!


I took that pic on the way back. You can never get tired of it... And those trees made me think of Six Feet Under as well! As you can see, the weather was getting a bit moody and soon enough, the first raindrops fell.


That's the hill we climbed to get a bit of a view. Not sure if you can see it, but people were actually on their way down when I took the pic.


A typical Kiwi landscape, sheeps and all! The clouds were not a good sign, though...


The beach where the penguins were supposed to be... This pic was taken from high up, so I wasn't too exhausted to take out my camera :)


The sea lion we had to walk past by! It doesn't look dangerous here, but it is...


And after that, I was way too tired to take any pics --as I've already said, we made our way back through the cold, the rain, the hunger etc. But it was a really good day, I loved doing all that stuff! And it was enjoyable because we went with some very nice people too (except for one person maybe *cough*), so it made it easier.

That's it for now! Since Fish isn't here, I'm not too sure if I'm allowed to say more :p But there's a lot going on for us down here, quite a lot indeed... With all the people and parties and whatnots, it's been overwhelming, in the good sense of the word. We never believed we would lead that kind of life, but we do, and it's so fantastic that we feel as if we have to enjoy every last bit of it. And we have, perhaps with a higher alcohol level in our blood than predicted, but we certainly have! Heh.

Okay, here's a few tidbits I can tell you:

*We went to the movies twice since we got here --to see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix on its release day and Starter for Ten. We loved both films tremendously!

*We have a huuuge reading program for our paper on Irish literature, and we'll never be concentrated enough to get through it. There's a party every night here, or every two nights, it seems. With all the hangovers it entails, too...

*We love our New Zealand Foreign Policy teacher, which may or may not be due to the fact that he's young and interesting and good-looking. Emphasis is put on the 'interesting' part, beause he really is :)

*Here's a quick rundown of our flatmates: in Fish's apartment, there are two Kiwis, Karl and Ruth, and three Americans, Annie, Chris and Tristan. In my apartment, there also are two Kiwis, Conor and Helen, two Americans, Ashley and Brock, and Claudia who's German. If you're on Facebook, let us know and you might be able to see them :p In case you're asking, yes, we're actively looking for friends on Facebook, heh.

That's it for now! Tomorrow is going to be quite huge as there's a party planned and we don't have any classes on Monday (not yet for Fish anyway), so wheeeee! Take care folks!